Sitting down with baritone, Luke Harnish

Baritone Luke Harnish is a rising star in the opera world, praised for his rich voice and nuanced performances. With recent engagements at prestigious companies like Santa Fe Opera and Sarasota Opera, he has quickly established himself as a sought-after artist. Mr. Harnish's versatile repertoire includes roles in opera, oratorio, and recital, showcasing his talent and dedication to the art form. Mr. Harnish has returned to Lancaster and will join the Allegro Orchestra Saturday, March 15 at 7:30pm at First United Methodist Church for Bach, Beethoven, and a Bass! 

On March 11th, Mr. Harnish sat down with me to discuss Saturday’s concert, his opera journey, and his fond memories of his musical upbringing in Lancaster:

CF: The first thing I want to ask: how does it feel to be back in your hometown? 

LH: It's always a sense of nostalgia when I come back. I had very formative musical experiences here. But these days I travel so much, so when I have an opportunity to mix work with a visit to see family, I really jump on it. 

CF: Oh, that's fantastic. Can you share a little bit about what was so formative in this area for you as a musician? Tell me about your journey. 

LH: So I started playing piano when I was six years old, and quickly graduated to playing the double bass in third grade in orchestra and jazz bands. I picked up electric bass along the way, so I was always surrounded by music and I even began accompanying the children's choir at my church, where Brian (Norcross) is the music director. So I had a very strong instrumental upbringing, but I didn't start singing until I joined the choir in 10th grade. I did our spring musical that year and really got hooked on stagecraft and singing, but still at that point didn't know much about classical solo singing and opera. So I went to school to be a music teacher and a conductor, and sort of explored my voice a bit more when I was an undergrad, but still didn't know what a career as a full time singer looked like. So I got my Master's of Education, did my student teaching and everything. 

Around that time, I started singing in the chorus with the Nashville Opera, and that was the first time that I got to hear professional opera singers up close and it was really inspiring, especially the sheer power of the unamplified voice. That's always been a big draw for me. So, I went back to grad school and ever since then, I've been working and traveling full time as a freelance opera singer. 

CF: That's a fantastic musical foundation. So of the roles that you’ve sung, which was your favorite, so far, and why? 

LH: Actually it was one of the first roles that I ever sang back in 2019 with a small company in San Diego. I sang the title role of Eugene Oegen in Russian. It was my first time singing in Russian, I got the contract pretty late, and had to cram the whole role. Looking back, I probably didn't do a great job vocally, but I really dove into the character and Tchaikovsky’s music just speaks to me so much. Russian has become one of my favorite languages to sing in. Unfortunately, I don't get to do it a ton, and most companies want to hire Russian singers if they're doing Slavic language operas. But yeah, that was a big one for me. I mean, I remember getting really into the Pushkin novel, prepping for the role. And the music. I mean, that's really what it comes down to: Tchaikovsky…

CF: Definitely. And so going from that to German, the pieces that you're going to be performing, can you tell me a little bit about what it's been like learning those pieces, and what do you expect audiences to take away from the performance? 

LH: I think a lot of people have the misperception that German is a really rough and guttural language, but in the context of song, I think we can look at some of those more complicated sounds that we don't possess in English as being really descriptive and beautiful in creating the character of the text and just establishing a very dramatic mood. When I was in undergrad, a lot of the stuff I sang was German lieder, and that's what really made me fall in love with singing. I remember from my senior recital in college, I sang all of Schwanengesang by Schubert. And then when I did my graduate recital, I decided, ‘let's do another German cycle.’ And so I did all of Schumann's Dichterliebe. And so that language has always spoken to me a lot. It's one of my favorite languages to sing in. And I actually heard a performance of this Bach cantata, Ich habe genug in Kansas City, sung by this world-renowned baritone, Roderick Williams with the Japanese Bach Collegium, and that was my first time being introduced to the piece, and in general, I think Bach sometimes gets a bad rap as a vocal composer because he writes for the voice in a very instrumental way, but I really love that challenge and coming from singing Verdi – I just wrapped up Macbeth in Atlanta on Sunday – that Verdi singing is a lot different than Bach. And Bach just feels like medicine for the voice and for the soul.. Once you get past all of his crazy concepts of harmony and his lack of breaths provided in the score.. But then the Beethoven, it's not a super well known song. In fact, I wasn't familiar with it when Brian programmed it. but it offers a much lighter mood after how serious we get in the Bach. 

CF: Oh, truly. They're both great pieces and they contrast well. I'm excited to hear the rehearsal tonight. 

CF: So, opera as you know, is seen as largely a traditional performance style. How do you see yourself contributing to its evolution, making it more accessible? Anything like that that you kind of work into your pathos as a performer? 

LH: So, there's definitely a misconception that all opera was written in the 17th, 18th, 19th century. –

CF: –Even with all the modern composers and the modern stagings, even, of older operas. –

LH: –What's put forth in the media is usually these caricatures of grand 19th century opera. And to be fair, that does make the core of our repertoire. But like you said, yeah, there's so many modern composers, new operas are being written every day. I’ve probably been a part of six or seven world premieres. Not all of them have staying power. I was just in Santa Fe this summer and they premiered this work by Greg Spears called The Righteous, which told a really poignant story about the struggle between politics, religion and power and the face of one man as he sort of ascended from a small town preacher and eventually leveraged his familial connections into holding a higher office. And that's something that I think can be really timely to modern day audiences, if they're willing to give it a chance. 

That being said, a lot of modern opera does kind of get a bad rap for being a bit more atonal or experimental in their conceptions of harmony. People love a Verdi melody, and I don't blame them. I love a Verdi melody, too. But there is a lot of modern opera that's being written that I think is compelling musically in addition to dramatically, and where the two of those meet, that's where I think we have great modern opera. 

I try to pitch opera to people as a different way to experience live theater, because at the end of the day, it is theater. I think people perceive it as being just about loud singing and people in big Viking helmets. But it can also be a fun social event, and you don't have to like it, you don't have to fully get it. I think there's beauty in the abstract nature of it. And if you go and you say ‘that's not for me,’ that's fine. But opera is not just one thing, there are so many different pockets of it. If you don't like a Handel opera, well, maybe you give Puccini a try. I guarantee you, you're gonna recognize something that you hear from La bohème. Or give Carmen a try; Carmen is all over advertisements. People go to Carmen and they say, ‘oh, I recognize that tune.’ So it's about finding the right entry point into opera. And then once you get there, I think introducing some of these more modern things can be a bit more palatable. 

CF: Oh, that's awesome. I think that the opera that you just described, The Righteous, sounds so interesting. I would love to see that. 

CF: As you reflect on your journey, what kind of advice would you have wanted to maybe give yourself or what advice would you give singers who are currently aspiring to the kind of path that you’re on? 

LH: Languages, languages, languages: spend as much time with languages as you can early on. I did not, and I don’t want to say ‘I've paid for it,’ but I've definitely been playing catch up a little bit. People want to get to singing the songs right away. I mean, obviously that's the fun stuff, but you don't really know what you're doing up front and the older I get the more you realize that the text is the music. What you see on the page is not complete as far as what the composer was thinking. These composers spoke the languages that they wrote in, and a lot of their musical phrases and instrumentation, the general mood that they're creating, stems from the music of the text. So being really comfortable with what you're singing, understanding basic grammar structures and starting to explore the piece from a purely textual standpoint, it can unlock a lot of musical secrets, and it'll make learning and memorizing music a lot easier down the road.

CF: Awesome. So, when you're not on stage or teaching or practicing, what do you like to do in your downtime? 

LH: I love to exercise, hit the gym, run, and I'm a big disc golfer, so I try to bring my Discs with me whenever I go on a gig, so I get to test out new courses in different parts of the country. And it’s something that you can do with people, but also alone. You spend a lot of time alone when you're on the road so much, and it's a fun way to get outdoors and explore different parts of the country. 

Get your tickets for Bach, Beethoven, and a Bass here!